Effect of Different Plant Spacings and Fertilizer Regimes on Growth and Yield of Banana (Musa Spp.) Cv. Ney Poovan (AB)

Banana (Musa spp.) is one of the most popular and commercially important fruit crops of the world not only for their nutritional values but also for their economic importance, especially to small and marginal farmers in developing countries. The present investigation was carried out to study the effect of different plant spacings and fertilizer regimes on growth and yield of banana (Musa spp.) cv. Ney Poovan (AB) in the Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar, Tamil Nadu, India during 2022 - 2023. The experiment was laid out in split plot design with three replications. The main plot consisted of two different spacings ( M1 - 2 m x 2 m and M2 - 1.8 m x 3.6 m) and the subplot consisted of five different fertilizer regimes ( S1 - 110:35:330 g / plant (100 per cent), S2 - 165:52.5:495 g/ plant (150 per cent), S3 - 192.5:61.25:577.5 g/plant (175 percent), S4 - 220:70:660 g/ plant (200 percent) and S5 - Control). The results revealed that the plant spacings and fertilizers regimes significantly influenced the growth and yield of banana (Musa spp.) cv. Ney Poovan (AB). The highest values of growth and yield parameters viz., pseudostem height (309.50 & 312.12 cm), pseudostem girth (61.64 & 62.98 cm) and leaf area (11.58 & 12.12 m2 ), bunch weight (10.59 & 11.28 kg), number of hands per bunch (10.95 & 11.33 nos) and number of fingers per bunch (164.15 & 172.67 nos) were registered by the individual effect of plant spacing M2 - 1.8 m x 3.6 m and fertilizers regime S4 -220:70:660 g/plant (200 per cent) at shooting stage in banana (Musa spp.) cv. Ney Poovan (AB) respectively. However in case of interactions M2 (1.8 m x 3.6 m) X S4 (220:70:660 g/plant ) (200 percent) resulted highest growth and yield parameters viz., Pseudostem height (314.46 cm), pseudostem girth (63.87 cm ), leaf area ( 12.40 m2 ) and yield parameters viz., bunch weight (11.38 kg), number of hands per bunch (11.96 nos.) and number of fingers per bunch (173.25 nos.) were registered at shooting stage in banana (Musa spp.) cv. Ney Poovan (AB) . It is therefore concluded that highest growth and yield from banana (Musa spp.) cv. Ney Poovan (AB) could be obtained by the incorporation of M2 (1.8 m x 3.6 m ) X S4 (220:70:660 g NPK / plant) ( 200 per cent ) with age of the crop upto shooting stage (at 3rd, 5th, 7th month after planting and at shooting stage).